Average Income Stays Below the Hungarian Average in 18 out of 19 Counties

Ábrahám Vass 2018.12.20.

Only Budapest and Győr-Moson-Sopron’s average incomes exceed the Hungarian average, Central Stastical Office (KSH) reported. In Easternmost Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, the average salary is just a little more than half of that of the capital’s.

Earlier, KSH revealed that the average monthly net income—for those who work full time and in a company with five or more employees—in Hungary is Huf 215,000 (Eur 665). Now, as they have published the net average income per county, it appears that only Budapest and (Austria-adjacent) Győr-Moson-Sopron’s figures exceed the Hungarian average. The capital city, with its ~2 million residents, ‘pulls up’ the whole country’s statistics as people living there have much higher average salaries (Huf 270.292- Eur 836). Komárom-Esztergom, Fejér and Heves remain slightly below the average but are still above the Huf 200,000 (Eur 619) limit.

It is also apparent that Western counties are in a better position overall. The Eastern counties of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg (Huf 150,926-Eur 467), Békés (Huf 160,433- Eur 496) and Nógrád (Huf 197,339- Eur 518) in the north suffer the lowest average incomes.

The new KSH statistics echo the observation made by a study conducted by left-leaning Policy Agenda which showed that only 23 percent of Hungarians earned more than the national average in 2017.